Interview with Yoshigasaki Sensei

Question:

Master, has for many years that You teach in Europe and in the world the discipline of aikido. The school you founded and of which you are the “Doshu”, “the Guardian of the Way”, as a prerequisite for the study of aikido as an Art of danger and as an Art of Life.

Once they used to say that Ki is the result of a state of unification of mind and body. Today it is obvious that the mind and the body are the same thing, but the thought, which is the part of the mind that thinks, often not connected with the body, while the “original mind” is one with this. Can you tell us how important the term “KI” and that space is in the same practice?

Answer:

Aikido is started with Takeda that was one of the last samurai who applied the techniques related to his skill with the sword techniques without a sword. These techniques without sword have become the basis of aikido.

Aikido techniques originally had no weapons, bare hands.

Morihei Ueshiba who learned from Takeda, introduced the philosophy of religion that followed, in addition to the practice of the sword and the spear with the bokken (naginata) and with the short stick (jo).

Until that Takeda Sokaku was alive, he could not teach freely.

After his death he began to develop the practice of his religion in the techniques.

Ueshiba then began to use the philosophical concepts of his religion in teaching, but many students did not accept his explanations because they come from religion, for which they have learned only the physical aspect.

His technique was only physical, without philosophy and without study of the mind.

Half of aikido practiced in Japan is based on physical appearance.

After the war, the philosophy of Ueshiba began to change also the technical aspect and many students did not understand it change his technique.

Because not give logical explanations but only some religious students have begun to try to understand the mental aspect of its techniques.

So it was for the master Koichi Tohei, who, having followed the teaching of Tempu Nakamura, tried to understand the teaching of Ueshiba applying his teaching.

Especially the concept that “the mind moves the body” and began to teach this mental aspect under the name of Ki.

Not being Koichi Tohei distinctly a theorist, he received the help of his wife in this direction, in the creation of a theory based on “four principles” almost like another religion. And ‘well known that especially in recent years, the same Tohei was not very happy with how this theory was developed to create a total of 33 principles.

The theoretical problem was the fact that it depended on a low knowledge of science and mathematics degree (secondary school), although this

He created an apparent advantage that everyone could understand, but to the detriment of all progress in the future.

I managed to solve this problem without using the materials science and the mathematics of points.

I teach this as a “theory of life and mathematics of the line.”

Question:

Sensei, and how can you show it? How can you learn the Ki in the discipline that you teach?

Answer:

The Ki Kanji used in Chinese writing does not have the same meaning in Japanese and this creates a lot of confusion especially for Europeans who think instead it means the same thing in both Chinese and Japanese.

To us, in this case, only interested in the Japanese meaning.

In the Japanese language there are words that express the concept of union under the mental aspect as “Ku” – “Mu”. Ki is instead an expression closely linked to everyday life commonly used by all Japanese.

The significance of Ki is something that can not be expressed clearly, something that is not clear.

The word Ki is not very important in itself, but we can begin to deepen, from this word.

Ki is something that can not be expressed in words, since it expresses mental activities without words, a gift that we all have from birth, to language learning.

This Ki we can call it “original mind.” This is one with the body as in animals and children. That’s why these are always spontaneous.

Later, with the deepening of language, begins the activity of thought and often these thoughts are not united to the body and can create conflicts between them.

These conflicts are not good for a martial art, as they limit the capacity for action in the real condition.

Normally in sports such conflicts do not appear because we already know first what belongs to us.

The practice of Ki is to perceive this concept and how to handle it in everyday life.

This is called Ki in Daily Life through which we begin to understand the relationships between original mind, thinking mind and body movement. And this is the Ki in Aikido.